Screw cap wrench with friction base



March 30, 1954 A. H. HANSON 2,673,481

SCREW CAP WRENCH WITH FRICTION BASE Filed Feb. 25, 1950 l/V l/ENTOQ A 7'ToQA/EY Patented Mar. 30, 1954;

UN I TE D A-T E'S PATENT O F F I C E SCREW- CAP WRENCH WITHFRICTI'ON BASE- Alfred H.Hanson, Garrison, N. YT Application February 23, 1950', Serial No. 14.5,8 50

My; invention relates one of its objects to provide such a device which is inexpensive and extremely simple in operation.

' A- further object ofthe invention is to provide a device for. loosening screw caps which is devoid of. moving'parts, so that it is practically indestructible.

Still another: object of my inventionis to provide a device-of the character indicated which is portable, so that it may be stored in a kitchen drawer or. other suitable'place when not in use.

A further 'objectflQf the'invention is to provide a device for loosening screwcaps which .is of suchconstruction. that both hands 1. of the operator mayv be. employed to apply torque to the container 'cap", which is ofdcided advantage over devicesnow on the market, wherein one hand is applied to the container and the other to the remover;

A still furtherobject of my'invention is to provide-a; device for looseningscrew caps which is capable of use in connection with a wide range of cap sizes, my device being adapted for use on caps varying in diameter from a fraction of an inch up to three or four inches, for example, or even larger.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device for loosening screw caps which so engages the cap top that, in the act of loosening the cap, the sides of the cap tend to spread slightly and, if the bottom of the container be struck a sharp blow with the hand while holding the cap in contact with my device, this spreading action is accentuated. This is a decided advantage over prior devices wherein the cap sides are clamped, thus tending to squeeze the cap into tighter fitting contact with the container and hindering rather than promoting loosening of the cap.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of an embodiment of my invention; and

Fig. 2 is a section taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings in detail, 2 designates the base or body of my improved device for loosening container screw caps. This base or body conveniently is circular in plan, its base may be fiat, as shown, while its upper face is i concaved.

The base or body member 2 may be constructed of any suitable material, as, for example, plastic, wood, or metal.

To prevent rotation of the device when in use,

to an improved device for loosening screw caps oncontainers and has for 2 Claims. (Cl. 813.3)

the'underside or base of thebody member'Z may bei'roughen'edor, asillustrated, an annulus 4' of' friction material, such as sponge rubber, may

be" attached to this partof the body. v

The upperconcaved face of the body member 2 is' providedwith a plurality of radially extend-' ing projections or'knives 6. These knives may b'e integral with the body member, or they may be separate members attached to the-body member. For example, if the body member were composed :of sheet metahthese members may take the form of radially extendin'g'louvres, the sharpofthe body member. It will beappreciatedthat each knife edgeprojects slightly above the faceofthe body member'and is so bevelled, asse'en at 9 in Fig. 2, that, when a container cap is held in-contactwith the knives and turned coun-' tereclockwise: to loosen -the cap, the knives will cut into the face of the cap while leaving the sides free to bulge outwardly away from the container sides.

In Fig. 2, I have illustrated the manner in which my device is used. In this drawing, Ill designates a container and I2 the screw cap therefor. To loosen the cap E2, the device is simply placed upon a table or sideboard with its concaved face uppermost. The container H1 is then placed in position, as shown, upon the knives 8. The user then grasps the container in either or both hands and then, while pressing the cap upon the knives, twists the container. In this operation, the knives 6 will bite into the container cap, thus preventing rotation of the cap relatively to the knives, and at the same time, because of the downward pressure being exerted by the operator, there will be a tendency for the cap sides to bulge outwardly slightly, away from the container sides. Of course, by reason of the fact that the container may be grasped in both hands, a tremendous torque can be applied to the container, so that the cap can readily be started or loosened. In this operation of loosening the container cap, the friction ring 4 prevents turning of the device relatively to the table or other support, and the greater the downward pressure applied to the container, the more this resistance to turnin of the device increases. Where a cap may be badly corroded and bonded to the container so that difliculty is experienced in loosening it when following the procedure above outlined, I have found that this difficulty is readily overcome if the cap is placed in position on the knives and the bottom of the container struck a sharp blow with the heel of the hand and then rotated slightly and struck another sharp blow. This actually increases the diameter of the cap sufiiciently to break the corrosive bond between the cap and container.

My device may be suspended from a nail or screw in a wall, if desired, and to this end I provide the device at its center with a hole 14, which enables the device to be suspended from such nail or screw with the friction ring 4 facing the wall. Operation is the same as above described, the contact of the friction surface 4 with the wall preventing turning of the device as pressure and torque are supplied to the container.

It will be seen that my device is simple in construction and operation and is entirely devoid of moving parts so as to be practically indestructible.

It will be seen furthermore that, by having the knives extend substantially from the center to the periphery of the device, the same is usable with caps varying over a wide range of sizes.

It will be appreciated still further that, by concaving the working face of the device, I facilitate use of the device in that the container will practically center itself, and slipping of the container from the device is avoided.

It is to be understood that changes may be made in the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated and described within the purview of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. A device for loosening container screw caps, said device comprising in combination a base member having a bottom end adapted to rest against a support surface and a top face having a plurality of radially-extending vanes rigidly mounted therein, said vanes having respective knife surfaces projecting slightly above said top face and arranged at slight inclinations to said bottom face, the included angle formed by the knife surfaces of radially-opposed vanes being an obtuse angle, said knife edges being thus positioned to engage the top edge portion of the screw cap of a container inverted thereabove while leaving the sides of said screw cap unobstructed, the bottom end of said base member having resilient friction means secured thereto and adapted to frictionally and immovably engage said support surface when pressed thereagainst.

2. A device for loosening container screw caps. said device comprising a base member having a bottom end adapted for mounting on a support surface, and an opposed top face having a shallow concave surface, a plurality of radially-extending vanes rigidly mounted in said base memher and each having an inclined upper knife edge projecting above and substantially alined with said top face, said vanes being arranged in radially-opposed .pairs, the included angle formed by the knife surfaces of radially-opposed vanes being an obtuse angle, said inclined knife edges thus forming an open bed for receiving the screw cap of an inverted container, the bottom end of said base mounting resilient friction means to prevent turning of the device when loosely placed against said support surface and torque and pressure are applied to said inverted container.

ALFRED H. HANSON.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,752,189 Lotz Mar. 25, 1930 2,015,565 Loeber Sept. 24, 1935 2,242,821 Fanslow May 20, 1941 2,246,649 West June 24, 1941 2,589,693 Hess Mar. 18, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 97,945 Sweden Jan. 30, 1940 

